xWOL2: Wake On Lan Plugin plus Network Monitoring!! NEW

[defrag]

Cool stuff - your skin is looking nice now Marbles (not to be said out loud in public in a bar )

It's really sad, but I still get amazed when I see the image change when the server status changes

I'm currently testing the keep awake functionality, also making it switchable in the UI too. Will let you know how that goes.

If you have any other suggestions please let me know

[Marbles_00]

Defrag,

I like your skin too. Which one is it, or did you do it yourself without releasing? Cool looking, very "gentle" layout...if you haven't released it, you should.

[defrag]

It is a completely homegrown skin that I have been working on for a very long time. I've resisted the temptation to release it as there are many parts that are tied to my specific setup, especially the recent episodes panel that gets fed from a little util that scrapes my tv episode xant db by date and returns the last 10. I may post some more screenies and see how much interest it gathers - it would take some work to "generalise" it.

Hmmm can anyone see the post I made on Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:56 am - I can only see it when I'm replying - very odd!!!

If it can't be viewed - here it is again:

Cool stuff - your skin is looking nice now Marbles (not to be said out loud in public in a bar )

It's really sad, but I still get amazed when I see the image change when the server status changes

I'm currently testing the keep awake functionality, also making it switchable in the UI too. Will let you know how that goes.

If you have any other suggestions please let me know

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

[quote="defrag"]It is a completely homegrown skin that I have been working on for a very long time. I've resisted the temptation to release it as there are many parts that are tied to my specific setup, especially the recent episodes panel that gets fed from a little util that scrapes my tv episode xant db by date and returns the last 10. I may post some more screenies and see how much interest it gathers - it would take some work to "generalise" it.

[quote]

I once write some thoughts how cat based menu could help to make modular skins possible... lately ive been pondering about the concept more and it has developed into idea that xpert could actually take charge of module management... this could help releasing skin in piecemeal fashion, and give possibility to others make extensions to given skin and distribute them and so on...

Lets see if i have enough determination at somepoint to crystallice these ideas to a working code...

anyways damn pretty skin

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

Hmmm can anyone see the post I made on Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:56 am - I can only see it when I'm replying - very odd!!!

oh i had "ghost post" made by u... couldnt see it, but yet new post indicator was bright as crying baby. it only calmed when i pressed "mark forums read", i guess that explains it... very odd indeed.

EDIT: damn... i was hoping to make some awesome release in my 1000th post... but this... oh well i bullshit too much... mayby i should promise that panda will be out on 1500th post

[defrag]

1000!!!! Happy post-day to you!!!

Thanks for compliments guys!!

As a teaser, I just spent the last hour taking snaps of my skin. I've zipped them up into a nice small 9mb file here. I will get round (at some point) to doing a skin post, but there are some things that will need a lot of explaining, like multi-cat different offline event handling, top 10 db scraping etc. Enjoy!!!

[Marbles_00]

Wow Hat's off to you. Just took a look at your screen shots, very nice indeed. Are you using a pre-release or the "free" version? Just wondering how you do the vertical scroll with the fades on the main menu...would love to incorporate that into my Mirage skin.

As for functionality, hey, there is stuff in my skin that people won't have a need for either, like the zoning information/control (of the music-server). I just figure, they will take out what they don't want. I do though have to get back into it, and perform another release...especially now that I've added this screen in the mix.

Thanks again for working on the plugin, and sharing the screen shots.

[defrag]

"Live" is on the last free version - but I have tested it on the pre-release and all working fine. All controlled via remote - I need to read it about 10 feet from a 32" wall mounted LCD. I've no need for the new whizlzy music screens, but that depemds on what Steven is gonna suprise us with the .Net 3.0 release. Currently working on a server skin too - just for managing the music and xant dbs. Still got major issues with picture screens though - the folder views just don't pick up the images correctly (even the pre-release versions). Still running BONG though on a 7" touch screen

[defrag]

I'm also trying to put the server asleep by running the sleep.exe program via xReceive, but I'm not having much luck right now

Hey Marbles_00, just wondering why you are trying to force your server to sleep? I have mine set to sleep after 20 mins activity (well 3 mins at the moment for testing this plugin - must remember to set it back!!!) That way I can happily let it do it's own thing and it works well. The only times it doesn't is when one of the other pc's keeps a file share open - but that drops off when the pc is off. Also, do you map drives to the server? I have all my mappings done as UNC paths (\\myserver\music) that way you are not giving explorer the opportunity to try and keep the connection alive.

[Marbles_00]

Hey Marbles_00, just wondering why you are trying to force your server to sleep?

When not being used, to save in electrical costs mainly. No reason to have that computer running if nobody is listening to music (as it is just not the computer, but the amps, tuner, MayBALD circuit etc. all get shut off when the computer goes to sleep). It is defaulted to go to sleep at 3:00am (may put that to midnight as right now, nobody in my house is up a 3 in the morning...I don't think ). This just gives me additional control. It's like when using my PPC. I have the ability to exit the thin client, or exit and place the system into sleep. The only drawback I'm seeing is that Xoapweather looses the ability to perform updates after the computer has been in sleep mode.

Also, do you map drives to the server? I have all my mappings done as UNC paths (\\myserver\music)

Yep, all are UNC mapped. The only way to go.

[rembetis]

At the risk of exposing my sheer ignorance on this topic, by "sleep" do you guys mean a simple hibernation or a S3 shutdown? Now that my electricity bills are over $150/mo (finally have central air) I've been meaning to put this kind of thing into effect, but I' way behind the learning curve.

[defrag]

This will be S3 suspend! It is the network card that interprets the packet sent by the plugin which in turn kicks the pc into waking up (by a setting in the network cards device properties). Not sure if the network card is kept alive in hibernate mode - plus the wake time would be significantly longer (my server is up and running in a few seconds). Have a look at S3 Standby Done Right for more info

[rembetis]

Thanks frag. That's a great link. Can't wait to put your plugin into action!

[defrag]

no worries remmy

[Marbles_00]

I think I tried some of the stuff that article indicates, but I found that the computer was constantly coming out of standby, and not just when I asked for it...it seemed any network activity was bringing it out of standby. That's why I've just kept with using magic packets, and waking the server when I want to use it. Then I have the choice as to leave it running (and it will shutdown in the wee hours of the morning), or force it back to standby.

I force it to standby by doing either of the following:
1) If using the PPC I have an os:execute command that executes the sleep.exe program on the server.

2) Now if using a fat client, I've setup on the server a small program called poweroff. It runs as a service and can be controlled remotely, and by command line. So on the client, I've just setup a button event to run the poweroff program with the proper arguements. I just set this up last night and it works great. I may even change the PPC commands to do the same and get rid of the sleep.exe program altogether.